A User's Experience - The OLYMPUS OM-D

[Dream Merchant]

Since there has been little word in the review section about the OM-D, I figured I'd add on the the range of photos taken under very different conditions (some so dark you could hardly make out visible detail!).

In addition, I also wanted to explore the range of ART FILTERS. Since my old ELP-2 Art Filter Review (The Crazy, Wacky World of Art Filters!!! Olympus PEN E-PL2), the EP-3 and now the OM-D has not only refined, but added more filters, as well as more options per Art Filter! There will be more photos than usual posted on the Art Filters.

Cactus jACK has done a marvelous introduction of the OM-D, and made astute first impressions here: Olympus OM-D E-M5 : First Impressions

First, some general photos showing the capabilities of the Olympus sensor, which is often said to reproduce colours more accurately, and/or is famous for rendering Reds, Blues and Greens beautifully.

I left the WB to AUTO WB and let the OM-D take care of it for me, which it has done quite nicely!

[Dream Merchant]

As mentioned earlier, there will be quite a few photos taken with the Art Filters, and here I chose the same subject just so that viewers can see the difference.

Please note that I only applied the sub-effects like soft-focus, white-edged effect or frame to a few filters at the beginning. Some of the subsequent Art Filters have similar options.

POP ART 1 renders a scene slightly more 'airily' than the more brooding POP ART II

[Dream Merchant]

I guess here the soft focus effect diminishes the star effect, but it should be better in more contrasty situations with brighter spectral highlights.

[Dream Merchant]

Since the light was changing, I decided to do another control reference shot.

[Dream Merchant]

[Dream Merchant]

[Dream Merchant]

That's the first part of the Art Filter section.

I must admit that even though I have used the EPL-2 with many various lenses, the new 12-50mm kit lens on the OM-D performs so well that it's easy to fall in love with this lens!

Later, we will do live tests of shooting in conditions so dark that details are not clearly visible to the naked eye, a night Video test as well as testing the OM-D with a whole lot of other lenses! That's the beauty of the m43 platform!

Stay Tuned!

[Riebuz]

Nice, thks

[sinned79]

just curious, can OM-D shooting long exposures like DSLR?

[rhino123]

just curious, can OM-D shooting long exposures like DSLR?

OM-D has bulb mode if that is what you meant.

[Dream Merchant]

These should help.

SPECIFICATIONS: OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 : Specifications | Olympus Imaging Singapore

USER MANUAL: http://olympusamerica.com/files/oima..._Manual_EN.pdf

[Dream Merchant]

Let's have a look at the Hi-ISO performance of the OM-D.

On the whole, I would say it's really quite impressive!

Who would have thought that ISO3200 could have been so clean? Or that going up to crazy (still not right at the top) ISOs like 10,000 could be a useful reality, with useable (to me) photos?

Couple of things while using this camera, you need to balance your Hi-ISO noise reduction (Olympus labels it as 'Noise Filter'. On the Olympus, there is another feature called 'Noise Reduction', and this is for long exposures.) Sometimes, going to 'High' can knock out some of the details, and if you over-sharpen the JPEG file, it might appear too aggressive. This is really subjective as different people perceive accutance, noise issues and sharpening differently.

I'm still exploring these settings and will report back later. Also, there will be a set of photos taken at ISO 10,000 with Noise Filter set from 'Off' to 'High'.

These photos were standard sharpening, Auto WB. Some photos Noise Filter were set to 'Standard', and some in the much darker areas, 'High'.

This was taken at Boat Quay area, with incandescent light. The OM-D Auto WB does an excellent adjustment in this shot!

[Dream Merchant]

This was shot in near darkness, with the only light source coming from the streets. The area inside the shop was almost totally dark.







Not only does the OM-D handle hi-ISO well, but look at the colour rendition!

[Dream Merchant]

The built-in 5-axis Image Stabilizer is quite impressive!

Coming from purpose IS units built into lenses, I always thought that Camera IS systems were lacking, especially at the tele end.

Nowhere is it more evident than in video, especially without any sort of self-stabilization video cam platforms like the Steady cams and so on, here's a video going over a cobbled stone (uneven) surface.

Please NOTE that these videos are nothing to shout about. They only try to show the stabilization of the OM-D.

[keroy]

Nice series!

Are those high ISO photos, RAW + PP or OOC Jpeg?

Thanks!

[sinned79]

I wonder how the bulb mode fares doing a astronomy shot with OM-D? Also shooting long exposures more then 5 minutes. I can easily do so with my current DSLR... but not sure if m4/3 cameras is good enough for that.

[Dream Merchant]

keroy, Medium Super Fine JPEGS, processed, no further noise reduction other than what was in cam.

sinned79, not sure. Even if I had some nice super-long lenses, the weather these days means I'll just be shooting cloudy night skies.

[Dream Merchant]

One of the best parts about the m43 platform is the sheer amount of lenses, both old, and new, and even antique ones that can be used!

I tried the OM-D with the original Kit lens, a Canon 8-15mm fisheye zoom, a Nikkor 85mm PC-E (tilt-shift) lens and the Leica Panasonic 25mm 1.4 lens.

The all performed exceptionally well, and even at 8mm, believe me, you HAVE to focus! This is made extremely easy with the magnification function of the OM-D.

[Dream Merchant]

[Dream Merchant]